M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenade

This article is about the M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenade. For the M7057 Flamethrower go here or the M6 Spartan Laser go here.

The UNSC-issued M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Grenade (abbreviated M9 HE-DP Grenade), also known as the Fragmentation Grenade, Frag Grenade, or simply Nade, functions in a manner very similar to contemporary hand grenades. When thrown, a blast bursts the grenade's shell open and sends many small metal fragments flying at high speed, causing damage to Energy shields, armor, and unprotected personnel in a nine meter (30ft) radius. In Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, four of these grenades may be carried at a time. This was reduced to two in Halo 3 due to the presence of four grenade types but back to four in Halo 3:ODST. It is a good grenade for clearing rooms as it does not stick to walls.

Description

HE-DP stands for High-Explosive Dual-Purpose. This designation means that it is designed to be effective against infantry and lightly armored vehicles.

The grenade has a hard metal casing that is smooth in Halo: Combat Evolved, but gridded in Halo 2 and Halo 3. This surface creates consistent, reliable fragmentation patterns for the grenade, rather than randomly rupturing along metallurgical faults. The grid-shaped casing houses a charge of high-explosive fitted with a mechanical primer. When the charge detonates, it shatters the grenade's casing, sending shrapnel flying away at high velocity.

AP FRAG can be viewed on the Halo: Combat Evolved M9's olive casing. AP designates "anti-personnel", indicating the weapon's intended use. In all Halo games, the grenade must first hit the ground before exploding. In Halo CE, the grenade would not detonate mid-air. In Halo 2 and Halo 3, it would bounce and explode mid-air a moment after bouncing. But in Halo 3, if the grenade was thrown up, and hit a surface going up, it wouldn't explode until it hit the ground. This presumed to be a safety feature, ensuring the grenade would only explode after striking a surface after being thrown, and not in the user's hand.

This may explain the lack of a "spoon", or handle, on the Halo 2 and 3 M9 HE-DP grenades. The spoon is a device that is gripped while the grenade is being primed. It ensures the grenade will not explode until after the spoon is released, as it starts the fuse of a grenade as it flies through the air after it is thrown. In Halo: Combat Evolved, the spoon would have negated the need for this Halo 2 safety feature. In Halo 3 if viewed in theater mode you can see the grenade is actually launched from the shoulder.

It is unknown how the M9 is primed, but references to pulling a pin on the grenade is mentioned in the Halo novels several times, even though no pin is visible in game play. However, pulling a pin would require two hands, but each version of the grenade has a button on its body. This would most likely be pushed to prime the M9 before tossing it. The pin reference is most likely an inaccuracy on the author's part in the novels, or perhaps just a turn of phrase that has lingered from more primitive grenade types.

In Halo: Combat Evolved the fragmentation grenade left a white smoke trail behind it when thrown and would create sparks when it landed after being hurled, indicating that the grenades fuse could be a gas-release system. The grenade would be primed with pressing a button, release gas when in mid-air and then detonate when landing in a static position. Making the grenade's detonation system depend on placement rather than timed detonation.

Combat

Advantages

This grenade can be effectively hurled and bounced around corners and travels farther than the Plasma Grenade; this can be used to quickly and aptly damage an attacker before he can move away from it, giving you an instant advantage in the close combat situation. It is also harder to see and has a shorter fuse, therefore making it harder to avoid and more useful for killing enemies on foot. In Halo: Combat Evolved, it also seems to have a larger blast radius than a Plasma Grenade. It has a larger casualty radius than the other grenade types in Halo 3. Also, since it is harder to see, having an enemy run over one by accident can happen more easily than with a bright blue plasma grenade. Also, they are extremely common, as all health packs in Halo: Combat Evolved have fragmentation grenades beside them and all Marines carry them.

Disadvantages

Unlike the Plasma Grenade, this grenade doesn't stick to objects, making it harder to hit vehicles. In Halo 3, it deals slightly less damage than the Covenant Plasma Grenade and Spike Grenade. In addition, if too close, you will be hurt just as much as your opponent. It cannot kill a fully shielded Elite, Spartan, or Brute, no matter the range. It can, however, kill a partially shielded opponent in a single hit. In stark contrast, the Plasma Grenade is a one-hit kill if stuck or lands nearby so you have to be careful when throwing. Also when you throw the grenade the enemy might run to you making the Frag Grenade throw a useless move. Also, in the in Halo: Combat Evolved campaign, if one grenade is caught in the blast of another, it will be set off; this can lead to massive chain reactions if large numbers of grenades are scattered around the battlefield.

Quick Stats